L.A. Fugitive Surrenders

LOS ANGELES (AP) â€” After changing his identity and eluding authorities for 17 years, a man wanted in a Los Angeles bank robbery and murder has surrendered. <br><br>Derrick Stevens, 48, who turned himself

Tuesday, November 28th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

LOS ANGELES (AP) â€” After changing his identity and eluding authorities for 17 years, a man wanted in a Los Angeles bank robbery and murder has surrendered.

Derrick Stevens, 48, who turned himself in to the FBI on Nov. 24, was charged Monday with one count of bank larceny. He may face additional charges, FBI spokesman Matt McLaughlin said.

``He realized we were getting closer,'' FBI agent Mary Hogan said. ``He was traveling, moving from place to place, and I think he got tired.''

Stevens was the alleged getaway driver in a 1983 armed robbery of Family Savings and Loan. The robbers snared $228,000, then the largest bank-robbery haul in the city's history.

One of the robbers wore a Richard Nixon mask, reportedly influencing the script of the movie ``Point Break,'' in which bank robbers don masks of ex-presidents.

Before the heist, authorities said, Stevens and accomplice Gregory Lewis stole the van of Tuong Truong. Lewis allegedly shot and killed Truong.

Lewis and two other men eventually served time for armed robbery. Lewis' conviction for the slaying was overturned on appeal.

Law enforcement officials were led to Stevens in October 1999 when a University of Maryland student noticed that a worker at the campus cafeteria resembled a picture of Stevens on an FBI poster.

Police went to the campus to question Stevens, who was going by the name Derrick Anderson, but authorities said he fled when he spotted the investigators.